Hackers make vulnerable to wipe up to 300 million iPhones unless Apple pays ransom
By Prempal Singh
A mysterious group of cyber-terrorist claims to be made vulnerable to wipe up to 300 million iPhones and iCloud accounts – unless of course, Apple pays a ransom in Bitcoin by April 7.
The group – who describe themselves as ‘Turkish Crime Family’ – claim to have required $75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrency, relating to Motherboard.
A hacker said, ‘I just want my money and thought this would be an interesting report that a lot of Apple customers would be enthusiastic about reading and hearing. ‘
They will claim to have qualifications which will allow them access to hundreds of millions of users’ medical data, in line with the report in Motherboard – and are intimidating to wipe a quantity of them unless they are paid.
Screenshots of supposed discussions with Apple show Apple’s security team requesting that the bunch delete a YouTube online video where they supposedly gain access to an elderly woman’s iCloud account.
What is less clear is if the threat is real – or if the group even exists. Beyond the evidence proven to Motherboard (screenshotted emails), there’s little proof.
British computer security expert Graham Cluley, writing on Bitdefender’s Hot for Security blog, says, ‘What we don’t know is actually the email exchanges between the hackers and Apple are real or faked, and – indeed – whether the so-called “Turkish Crime Gang” really has access to a huge quantity of Apple users’ qualifications.
‘If it’s true that the hackers are trying to engage with the media in an make an effort to increase their likelihood of a substantial payout then that might be in line with an increasingly common approach deployed by extortionists. ‘
Source: metro.co.uk